In general, heavy construction equipment, such as a wheel loader, performs an operation of booming working substances, such as sand or gravel, and putting the working substances into a bucket while driving, an operation of transporting working substances to another place, and a loading operation of dumping working substances on a dump truck.
The heavy construction equipment, such as the wheel loader, has a clutch cut-off function of automatically enabling a transmission to be in a neutral condition based on a brake pedal operation and an output of an engine, and the like. The clutch cut-off function refers to a function of automatically switching a condition of the transmission to a neutral condition and maintaining the neutral condition of the transmission in order to cut off power consumed by driving-side components, and secure power required for an operation in a case where a front operation device, such as a boom, is used in an idle state. Even though the clutch cut-off function is operated, in a case where the brake is released and an accelerator pedal is operated for driving, driving and braking are available through a connection with the transmission.
Accordingly, in a case where a driver needs to frequently brake or maintain a stop state because there are many operations using the front operation device, it is advantageous to automatically make the transmission be in the neutral condition according to a situation by activating the clutch cut-off function by operating a clutch cut-off switch. Contrary to this, in a case where driving needs to be mainly performed, it is advantageous to turn off the clutch cut-off function by operating the clutch cut-off switch.
According to the transmission cut-off control apparatus of the heavy construction equipment in the related art, in a case where working substances are excavated and dumped into a vehicle, an excavation operation is available with sufficient power by cutting off power consumed for transmission power as necessary by operating the clutch cut-off function and combining the cut-off power with front power.
However, in a case where freight is transported for loading into a dump truck, and the like in this state, when a brake pedal is operated at a time where driving is completed, the transmission is in the neutral condition, so that the driving is abruptly stopped. Especially, the aforementioned driving is performed in a state where the bucket including the freight is raised high, such that the stop of the driving has a problem in that considerable impact is caused by the abrupt stop of the driving of the vehicle, which may cause the freight to fall.
Further, even in a series of operation processes of excavating and loading the freight with the heavy construction equipment, in order to operate or stop the clutch cut-off function, there is a problem in that the driver needs to repeat a clutch cut-off switch on/off operation.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.